Childhood stories
by jiskah
Summary: Even our beloved profilers were once just kids and this is what I think how they were and what kind of problems they had to handle. it s a series of one-shots


_Disclaimer: I don´t own anything except of Nia( I really would like to own Reid )_

_Authors note: this idea acme up after re-watching "Jones" and remembered that Ethan was mentioned in one of Ried´s Flashbacks in "Revelation" and started to think about how their childhood years were and what kind of friendship they had. And so here we are, that´s it what came to me. Just some silly little thing._

There were a lot of things little Spencer hated about his life. First place and all the time was being a prodigy child. Everybody always gets excited about having a genius around but that was only the adults. The children and teenager he had to deal with every day mostly just liked to harass him, and those were the good days. On bad days they like to beat him up.

The second thing following that fact was as a prodigy child you never belong to the popular kids group. When you go to school with people older than you and you never make a lot of friends.

Third on his list was his family. He really did love his mother but he wasn't sure about his father. He had left Spencer and his mother four years ago and now little Spencer had to take care of his mother and himself. Sometimes Spencer wanted to run away like his father had but every time he had that thought, he felt guilty and locked it up in the deepest corner of his mind. There was only one person who Spencer really called a friend, Ethan, the others were just acquaintances.

Ethan was three years older but it didn't matter to either of them, maybe because Ethan was a prodigy on his own. Until he had moved to Las Vegas, he and Spencer had been in the same classes. Somehow it was a funny thing that the 14 years old Spencer and the 17 years old Ethan would soon be getting their master degrees.

For Spencer it was a great having Ethan around. He brought out the child in Spencer and helped him stay grounded when Spencer's mother had a bad day. For Ethan it was a great because no one could follow his thoughts like Spencer and he always had the "he is caring for the little genius" bonus when it came to girls.

And that was Spencer problem at the moment: The girls. It wasn't easy for him, with his hormones running wild and every girl he knew was at least four years older and just wanted him as a tutor. Ethan tried many times to make Spencer understand that the girls wanted him only as a tutor because he was no threat to them unlike the boys of their own age but sometimes even a genius was stupid.

It was a lazy summer day during their summer break. The two prodigies strolled around town enjoying the day. They were involved in a talk about physics as a young girl approached them.

"Hey Spencer, how are you doing? I haven't seen you for weeks."

The girl didn't just smiled, she beamed a smile at Spencer.

"Oh...Hi Nia...erm, I am fine...was busy, you know."

"I know. I still can't believe you are going off to college. Oh, that reminds me something my mother wanted me to ask you. See, I have some problems with most anything that has to do with science and she thought you could maybe help me a bit."

Ethan had a hard time controlling himself. It was too funny how this girl used the old "I need some help with school" excuse to get near Spencer. Little Spencer in the meantime wasn't sure what to do and the main reason was because Nia was looking pleading at him with her dark eyes.

"Uhm...yeah, which subjects?"

"Physics, math and chemistry. I don't know why but biology is the only science I understand. Funny, huh?"

"Yeah, really funny." Ethan piped up.

Oddly Spencer didn't react to Ethan's sarcastic comment. The little genius was totally distracted by Nia. She didn't react to Ethan either, it was like he wasn't there. Spencer cleared his throat.

"Often people who have problems with math also have problems with chemistry and physics because you need a lot of math in the other two subject but you don't need it for biology."

Suddenly Ethan had the undeniable urge to smack Spencer. He couldn't count how often he had told the younger one that telling facts and statistics would only make things worse.

"Really? That explains a lot. So, you wanna be my tutor?"

Spencer could only nodded in agreement and Nia's smile became brighter. Jumping for joy she left the two boys and went on her way. An irritated Ethan faced Spencer.

"What was that?"

"Nia, she moved into the house next to me about six months ago." Spencer answered absent-mindedly.

Ethan snapped his fingers in front of the younger ones face.

"Hey, Earth to Spencer. I know who she is, remember I met her shortly after she moved in with her family. But what was that?"

"She asked me to be her tutor."

So much naivety just wasn't believable.

"I heard that but that was strange even for you. You are always shy around girls but that was even worse than normal."

"I like her."

Spencer shrugged his shoulders and went a few steps till he noticed Ethan was still standing where they had been standing when Nia approached them. With questioning eyes he looked back.

"Are you coming, Ethan?"

"You love her."

Puzzled Spencer blinked.

"What?"

"You are in love with her."

"I am not, I just like her."

"You are in love with that 15 years old little angel with the beaming smile living next door to you."

"I am not and if you still want to go to the movies we should hurry up."

Red as a tomato Spencer started to walk fast.

The following day Spencer started the tutoring lessons. He and Nia met three days a week for two hours, sometimes she asked him to stay and eat dinner with her family. The first few times Ethan teased him about those dinners but stopped it because Spencer totally disregarded him and didn't do or say anything in response. He just had a happy smile on his face and ignored Ethan's comments. A month after Spencer had started tutoring Nia he was nervous and getting on Ethan's nerves by playing with a pen the entire time they were discussing their timetable for the college. Ethan knew the only thing that could make Spencer that nervous was he wanted to ask something and didn't know how.

"Ok, Spencer, what is going on?" he asked taking away the pen.

"Uhm, nothing."

"You aren't fooling me. What is on your mind?"

"Promise you won't laugh at me."

"Have I ever laughed at you when you had a problem?"

Spencer shook his head and took a deep breath.

"I think you were right about Nia. I think I've fallen in love with her."

"You THINK?"

Ethan looked at Spencer in astonishment.

"I don't know. It's crazy. I was thinking about asking her out. You know, on a date."

"And you don't know how to ask her?"

"Yeah, and I'm afraid she will say no."

Ethan shook his head in disbelieve.

"There is one thing you can be sure of and it is that she will say yes. Why do you think she asked you to be her tutor?"

With a wide-eyed expression Spencer looked at Ethan.

"You mean she wants to be with me? Is this why she made me stay for lunch or dinner every time she got the chance?"

This time Ethan didn't fight the urge to smack Spencer.

"Damn right. Boy, you are sometimes really a pain in the neck when it comes to girls you know?"

"It wasn't my intention." Spencer said rubbing his head.

"Ok, I know. In a silly way it is funny. As prodigies we are supposed to know everything but when it comes to real life even we are only human. And I can remember you telling me a year ago about some chemical explanation about falling in love."

"You mean that falling in love is just a chemical reaction of our brains on a possible mate for reproduction?"

For a moment Spencer's eyes grew wide and than both started to laugh. After almost twenty minutes they finally stopped laughing.

"So, what are you going to do now?"

"I don't know."

Again Spencer got smacked.

"Ouch, what was that for?"

"She likes you, you like her, she won't say no and you want to ask her out. So why the hell do you not know what to do? Ask her out, for crying out loud."

"I got it, no need to swear or beat me."

The following day Spencer was over at Nia's for tutoring. Normally she was the one not concentrating but today it was Spencer who needed to be brought back to reality. The night before he barely slept because he kept thinking about the best way to ask her out but hadn't came to a conclusion. It was early afternoon when they were finished with the lessons. Spencer had insisted on meeting early because he didn't wanted to be stuck at Nia's house for dinner. She escorted him to the door and they talked a bit just as they did after almost every lesson. As they stood at the front door he began to fumble nervously at his shirt.

"Is everything ok Spencer? You don't look very well."

His head shot up even if he couldn't remember looking down.

"Oh, I am fine. It's nothing."

"Are you sure? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Spencer couldn't stand this any longer.

"Do you wanna go out with me on a date?" he blurted out in lighting speed.

Nia looked astonished and he wanted to smack himself for his own stupidness. But suddenly her astonishment changed into a bright smile.

"I would like it very much Spencer."

"Really?"

His voice was squeaky because of his bewilderment.

"Really, I hoped you would ask me out."

Now Spencer showed a bright smile, too.

"What do you think of going to the movies?"

"A good idea, meet you in an hour?"

"You can count me in."

Still smiling he left the house.


End file.
